


"Can I Kiss You?" + "I Just Want This"

by frogchorus



Category: The Beatles (Band)
Genre: 1960, M/M, first kiss!!, fluff with a tiny bit of angst, nerk twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:21:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29886558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogchorus/pseuds/frogchorus
Summary: 23rd April 1960 - John and Paul have travelled to Berkshire to stay with Paul's relatives. After their first gig, John asks something that's been on his mind...
Relationships: John Lennon/Paul McCartney
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	"Can I Kiss You?" + "I Just Want This"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alienscully](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alienscully/gifts).



> Part of the tumblr drabble prompt thing!! :p

Hitchhiking down to Reading was much easier than both Paul and John expected. Everything had gone smoothly, and they were warmly greeted by Paul’s cousin, Betty, and her husband. They’d made a promise to work behind the bar through the week and perform at the weekend - a brand new audience in a brand new town! Working was fine, a little repetitive, but the customers were good fun and didn’t bother talking to either boy for most of the night, 

The pair of them had spent their free time making posters for their weekend gig, pasting them around nearby streets to spread the word. Under Betty’s husband’s guidance, they’d created a brand new setlist - specially catering to their acoustic guitars - and put the advice he’d given to them to good use. This week was  _ their _ week, something they’d probably not get to do again for a very long time. Having a band was much easier than being a duo, but the fact it was just  _ them _ \- nobody else - made it all the more special. Working didn’t seem like work with the other by their side, it was  _ fun. _ Something neither of them would ever put alongside the idea of work. Practicing on only acoustic guitars was great too, they’d reinvented themselves for the week - no more electric guitars - just classic rock and roll on acoustics. It reminded Paul of when he was learning guitar - and when he was teaching John guitar  _ properly _ too. Back to basics - strangely intimate, he felt. 

* * *

The week passed quickly, and their first gig was upon them. Regular customers piled in, alongside some new faces - perhaps they were weekend regulars, or perhaps the posters had enticed them to come to  _ The Fox and Hounds _ for the first time. Once the stream of people coming in had seemed to slow down, the pair introduced each other and jumped right into a cover of  _ The World is Waiting For The Sunrise _ , followed up with  _ Be Bop A Lula _ and the rest of their setlist. The gig had gone well, they’d made  _ actual  _ money! Sure, the patrons were all drunk, but they hadn’t caused a fuss - they seemed to enjoy it!! All the work into making their weekend stint as the Nerk Twins something  _ fantastic _ had paid off, and the exhilarating feeling pulsing through them both was like nothing they’d ever felt before.

Once the pub had shut (and they had helped in cleaning up, of course!), they headed off to bed - squeezed together, lying top and tail, dozily making conversation as the hazy moonlight shone through the gap in the curtains. 

“I don’t want to go back tomorrow, Paul. Are ye sure we can’t stay?” John asked, evidently really enjoying being a  _ Nerk Twin _

“I don’t either, y’know. But a promise is a promise, an’ I can’t be away from home any longer - but ‘m sure we can come down again, yeah?” Paul responded, nudging John’s calf with his heel.

“Aye, yeah, we should. ‘S been nice, just us. Nobody to bother us, ‘n no Mimi or Jim to tell us to go to sleep. No stupid arguments about songs n’ shite either.”

“Mmm.” Paul agreed, trying not to succumb to sleep in the middle of a conversation. “I like it when it’s just us. Feels like…uh….”

“Like what…?” John pushed, with genuine curiosity. 

“Like, like… it was supposed to be this way, yeah? Like we met for a reason an’ we’d be best mates an’ do this stuff forever. Just us.”

“Ye think so?” 

“Yeah. Makes sense, doesn’t it?” Paul asked, trying not to overstep the boundaries of their friendship too much.”

“Course, course it does.” John replied, pushing himself up into a sitting position, which Paul followed - leaving the two of them facing each other, the bedding bundled up in between them. “Paul…?” John began, nervously looking away. This time felt  _ right _ .

“Yeah?” he replied, squinting to get a better look at his friend - he was already curious as to why he sat up (and why he mimicked this!), and John’s quiet, wavering tone sparked a deeper curiosity.

“Can…” he began, hesitating, before shaking his head slightly. Not many people had seen this side of him - shy and careful. “Can I… kiss you?” he asked, breathing in sharply once the words had been uttered.

“Can you what??” Paul replied. He can’t have heard that right. John, kissing him? John? Kissing? Him? 

“Oh fuck - no, nevermind. ‘M tired. Jus’ forget what I said!!” He was clearly panicking now. Maybe he should just make his own way home  _ now _ , and never see Paul again.

“No, no John… you can. If you really want to. But yer’ not…. Yer not queer, are you?”

“Am I not? Are you not? I jus’ want this, Paulie. Just… that’s what I thought ye’ meant. About us.”

“I’ve never… thought about it.” He lied, he  _ had _ thought about kissing John. He  _ wanted  _ to. But he didn’t think John would ever want that too - not in a million years!

“I’ll just go to bed, eh? This never happened -” John began to lie down, but Paul grabbed onto his wrist, pulling him forward, closer and closer until their noses were practically touching.

“I jus’ want this too.” Paul whispered, before tilting John’s head to the side and kissing him. At long last.


End file.
